Philly's Moyer forced to wait it out

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Sunday, October 19, 2008

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By DAN GELSTON

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- Jamie Moyer remembers the delirious Phillies fans swaying from light poles, climbing trees, sitting on shoulders, doing anything they could to catch a glimpse of that 1980 World Series parade.

Moyer was just a teen who played hooky from school in nearby Souderton and waited inside now-defunct JFK Stadium for the victory parade to end.

Mike Schmidt and Larry Bowa spoke at the rally, all while the crazed fans chanted "We're No. 1!" and celebrated Philadelphia's first World Series championship in team history.

This year, Moyer wants to ride one of those floats down Broad Street instead of watching them go by.

Moyer and the Phillies are four wins away from championship No. 2 in the team's 126-year history. If anyone can relate to Phillies fans' lengthy drought, it's the 45-year-old Moyer.

The two-time 20-game winner has never pitched in a World Series game, and the first one of his 22-year career will come for his hometown team.

His parents, other family and friends from around the area will be in their seats Saturday at Citizens Bank Park to cheer him on.

Moyer is scheduled to start Game 3 of the World Series against either Tampa Bay or Boston.

He can only hope the outing goes better than his first two of the playoffs. Moyer, who was 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA during the regular season, is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA.

He was chased in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Dodgers after allowing six runs in 1 1-3 innings. Moyer never found any consistency in his lone start of the division series against Milwaukee and was lifted after only four innings.

Moyer has the only two losses for Philadelphia in the playoffs.

Before the Phillies clinched the NLCS in five games, there was plenty of buzz in Philadelphia that they shouldn't pitch Moyer in a possible Game 7. Manager Charlie Manuel was peeved Saturday by questions that Moyer might not keep his turn in the rotation for the World Series.

Manuel is staunchly loyal to his veterans, especially pitchers with 246 career wins and a track record like Moyer's.

Moyer will get the ball. Case closed.

"Moyer won a lot of games for us this year. He's one of the reasons why we are where we're at," Manuel said. "He'll pitch against whoever we play."

The rousing welcome the Phillies received when they returned home after clinching the NLCS took Moyer back to those days when Schmidt, Bowa, Steve Carlton, Tug McGraw and Pete Rose were the talk of the city.

"There's a buzz in the air here now in Philadelphia and it's pretty cool," Moyer said.

Not long after Moyer was traded to Philadelphia in the middle of the 2006 playoff push, he stood at a team meeting and told his new teammates all about the parade. He described how wonderful the feeling was to see an entire city united behind one common cause, how the strangers crammed next to him on the train ride were all friends for a day and what winning a championship would mean to a city that hasn't won a title since 1983.

Moyer can help make it happen.

The six-day layoff between the NLCS and World Series allowed Moyer to reflect on his career and enjoy preparing for the World Series with his family. He had dinner with his parents on Thursday night, and other relatives stopped by to reminisce about all those backyard catches and boyhood dreams of playing in the big leagues.

"It's really nice to live this with my family in this city," Moyer said.

Moyer pitched his college ball at Saint Joseph's from 1982-84 and his No. 10 is the only retired jersey in the history of Hawks baseball. He holds the single-season record for strikeouts, fanning 90 hitters in 1984.

While Moyer was pitching at Hawk Hill, a meeting was arranged with his hero Carlton. The two met in the weight room of the since-demolished Veterans Stadium and talked pitching for about 15-20 minutes. Just one hard-throwing lefty to another hard ... well, just make that another lefty.

"He was a great person," Moyer said. "And that's when he really didn't talk to (the media). He was very cordial."

Wonder what Carlton's mood was on June 16, 1986, when Moyer made his first major-league start for the Chicago Cubs and beat the four-time Cy Young Award winner and the Phillies?

Moyer turns 46 in November and, postseason flop aside, has shown few signs of slowing down. He's built his career around a fastball that never really rises out of the low 80 mph range, and most pitches are in the 70s.

The satirical newspaper "The Onion" ran a wisecracking story this season that a Moyer change-up arrived at home plate for a called third strike "nearly 147 seconds after it was thrown." The punch line? "Moyer later revealed that the pitch was a fastball."

Moyer, though, usually gets the last laugh on the opposition. Moyer said he would still be pitching even if he had already won a World Series ring -- the closest was the 2001 ALCS with Seattle -- and that winning one won't affect his future plans. Moyer is a free agent at the end of the season and wants to keep pitching.

"As long as I feel like I can play and contribute, then why not?" he said.

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